Behavior of headed shear stud connectors subjected to cyclic loading

The objective of this study is to investigate the actual behavior of studs in structures under earthquake load through laboratory tests and numerical simulation. A test program including eighteen specimens was devised with consideration of different concrete strengths and stud diameters. Six of specimens were subjected to monotonically increasing loading while the others were subjected to cyclic loading. Mechanical behavior including the failure mechanism, load-slip relationship, stiffness degradation, energy dissipation and the damage accumulation was obtained from the test results. An accurate numerical model based on the ABAQUS software was developed and validated against the test results. The results obtained from the finite element (FE) model matched well with the experimental results. Furthermore, based on the experimental and numerical data, the design formulas for expressing the skeleton curve were proposed and the simplified hysteretic model of load versus displacement was then established. It is demonstrated that the proposed formulas and simplified hysteretic model have a good match with the test results.